A photographic look at Pulitzer winner Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar, shown at the Nokia Club in downtown Los Angeles in 2012, won the Pulitzer Prize for music for his album "Damn." (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Their names are inked in history books and on the walls of hallowed concert halls as winners of American music’s most esteemed award, the Pulitzer Prize for music: Aaron Copland, George Crumb, John Luther Adams, Ornette Coleman, Caroline Shaw and dozens more.

Add to that list the man nicknamed Kung Fu Kenny.

In news that caught many off guard, celebrated Compton-born rapper Kendrick Lamar was awarded the Pulitzer on Monday for his work on his 2017 album “Damn.” With the announcement, the committee praised Lamar’s album as “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”

Translation: It’s an amazing album that documents South L.A. black life with wildly accomplished beats and verses.